She died at her home in New York on Wednesday, 3 April 2013. The 85-year old writer of satirical novels, who set many of her stories in India, was suffering from pulmonary disorder, (as reported by US media reported, quoting filmmaker James Ivory).
An enviable literary career
Ruth began writing novels in India in the 1950s and loved fiction with all her eart. Unlike other writers, Ruth was never really worried about what others felt about her writings and it is believed that in one of her letters written to a friend she wrote, "I was at the bottom of a deep abyss. No one read them. But I enjoyed it." Among her films, 'The Europeans' (1979) based on Henry James' novel set in mid-19th Century New England, directed by James Ivory attracted a huge audience and she went on to write several more memorable screenplays later. Critics lauded her for her sharp sensibility in analysing class, culture ethnicity and experience of exile. Prawer wrote 23 screenplays in a period of five decades of her writing career that included adaptations of EM Forster's A Room with a View (1985) and Howards End (1992), for both of which she won Academy Awards. Her win put her in the same league as Bette Davis and Elizabeth Taylor. The Merchant-Ivory-Prawer Jhabvala relationship lasted more than three decades and surprised all by entering the Guinness Book of Records as the film world's longest associations.
An impeccable storyteller, it was during the last years of her life that themes of deception and time revenges punctuated her narrative style. She studied human behaviour very closely in her works and was almost a magician in weaving plots. Hardened critics too could not help but admire Ruth's repertoire in writing short stories and novels. She was hailed as one of the few authors who seemed to understand modern India without a myopic vision.
Ruth's India
Sights, colours, smells and everything else about India fascinated Ruth. Her immense love for the country changed suddenly after 1975 when the writer felt she no longer can write about the country, despite living in it. Elaborating on her mixed feelings about India, she revealed in one of her autobiographical writing, "Yet all my moments are dull. It is my own fault, I know."
Her last piece of literature
It was only last month that her latest short story appeared in the New Yorker (March 25 issue). Prior to that "A Lovesong for India" published in the year 2012 was her last short story collection. She did not choose to be a writer but stories came to her as she said in one of her interviews, "One is just born that way".
Prominent works
"To Whom She Will" (1955), The Nature of Passion" (1956), "Esmond in India" (1957) and My Nine Lives" (2004) are some of her prominent works in literature. In films, she wrote screenplays with Ivory for "Shakespeare Wallah" (1965), "The Guru" (1969) and "Bombay Talkie" (1970) among others.
Born Ruth
Prawer in Cologne in Germany to Jewish parents, the family fled from the Nazi regime in 1939 to Britain. She became a British citizen in 1948 and received her master's degree from the University of London in 1951. She is survived by her husband, Cyrus H. Jhabvala, an Indian Parsi architect and three daughters - Renana, Ava and Firoza-Bibi (known as Poji). A legend to have won both the Booker and the Oscar, Ruth Prawer will be missed by millions of literary fans all over the world.(With inputs from IANS)
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